on the issue of the obama administration, during the 2008 campaign, president obama criticized the bush administration's treatment of detainees. candidate obama promised to close guantanamo and to reject torture without exception or equivocation. he also criticized the previous administration for executive secrecy, included repeated invocation of the state's secret privilege to get civil lawsuits thrown out of court and the promise to lead a new era of openness. the administration has fulfilled some of those promises, and conspicuously failed to fulfill others. in some cases because congress has blocked them, but in other cases for reasons of their own. as asa mentioned earlier, high- level secrecy surrounding the rendition and torture of detainees since september 11 cannot continue to be justified on the basis of national security. the authorized enhanced techniques have been publicly disclosed and the c.i.a. has approved its former employee's publication of detailed accounts of individual interrogation. ongoing classification of material documenting these practices serves only to conc